Wednesday, December 30, 2009

***This 1982 4th Series $100 banknote from Malaysia signed by Aziz Taha must be the MOST expensive/valuable $100 banknote, in any condition, ever issued from the 1st series right up to the 11th series.

The above banknote featured here is an Original piece; 'Original' meaning the banknote has not been washed and/or pressed or mischieviously tampered in any way.

One can clearly see the folds & other 'valleys.' Isn't this how a circulated banknote should look like?

It's kind of surreal to see similar circulated banknotes in the form of VF or EF grades being offered for sale, but with the folds missing to the naked eye. Isn't that weird?

No, it is just that such banknotes have been washed & pressed & in some serious instances, even having being ironed!

Sunday, December 27, 2009

***Here are 5 Consecutive Choice Uncirculated $10 banknotes from Malaysia being the 2nd Series issue dated 1972.It is not easy to find this issue in choice UNC condition with sharp edges/corners, no foxing, with original sheen & above all, no counting marks.Many such banknotes sold in the open market have irritating counting marks as during those days, there were no counting machines at banks & banknotes were manually counted, resulting in bent corners.***Not For Sale At The Moment***

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

***This, the $100 ZB Replacement banknote signed by Zeti Aziz from Malaysia, is an unusual scarce banknote.

There are very few of this issue in UNC condition and as such, it's scarce, but however, there seems to be a lot of this issue in circulated condition.It's a rather bizarre issue, rare in UNC but common in circulated condition!

Monday, December 21, 2009

***The note featured today must be among the most popular banknote from British Malaya that collectors love to collect, including collectors from outside Malaysia, going to those as far as North America and Europe.

This common Small A Buffalo Note is also, unfortunately, one of the most popular banknotes to be a favorite for chemically washing and subsequent pressing by now all-too-well-known parties, who, then, sell such lower grade notes that had been chemically processed as AU or UNC grades, esp. on the net, or even at this as you read this.

Most naive new collectors won't hesitate to grab such "AU/UNC" banknotes being sold on the net, usually at 'bargain' prices, only realising 6 months down the road that what they have bought being merely trash.

And it's quite hard to advise new collectors from grabbing such 'bargains' on the net as they often perceived that we, the 'advisors', as trying to dissuade them from buying such 'bargains' with an ulterior motive.

To all you folks out there, if you can buy a UNC piece of the note featured today at US$300 or so, that means the note you have bought was actually VF the most but had been chemically cleaned, pressed & sealed in a plastic folder (to prevent you from feeling the lifeless thin piece of crap).

Sellers are not morons to sell you this piece of note in UNC grade at US$300 or so!

Sunday, December 13, 2009

***A Scarce Uncirculated Consecutive Pair of the RM50 ZA99 Replacement Banknotes issued way back in year 2000 and signed by the current Governor.

As the current Governor has been busy signing various Malaysian banknotes for the past 9 years, most of these banknotes bearing her signature do not bear much premium due to the obvious immense available quantity.

Only her RM50 ZA Replacement banknotes score the highest marks in terms of value due to the limited quantity issued and very much less still in the ever-wanted Uncirculated condition.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

***Of course, this is one of the elusively & exclusively Top 4 Rarest post-1990s Replacement Banknotes from Malaysia, the other 3 being the RM2 ZB by Ahmad Don, the RM50 ZA Side-Signature by Ali Abul Hassan and the RM 50 ZA 97xxxxx by Zeti Aziz.

This banknote is special as it was printed in very small and limited quantity by Thomas De La Rue before the Canadian Banknote Co took over & printed the rest of this series in abundance.

The other 3 banknotes as mentioned among the Top 4 above can still be purchased in UNC condition if one is willing to fork out the necessary dough to get them, even though, the Zeti RM50 ZA97 is immensely tough to get hold of today, however, even if one has money, it is not easy to get the note that is featured today, esp. when one dreams of getting several consecutive pieces!